Another soccer season has come and gone for the Andover Recreation Soccer teams.

The fifth and sixth grade coed team was coached by Owen Bendixsen and assisted by Dan Mori and Nick Welch. The team made the C Division Tournament for the Merrimack Valley Soccer League held on October 14 at the Bradford fields. The team really brought their A game and won three of the four games losing only to Hopkinton, who won the tournament. Andover came in second but had great moments of passing, shooting and sportsmanship. Andover faced off against Penacook, BNS, Hopkinton and Hillsborough.

October 14 was also the last day of practice for the Kindergarteners. Abi Webster was the Kindergarten coach who met with her team every Saturday starting after Labor Day. The young group of 10 got an early start on their dribbling and passing skills.

Scott and Lindsay Allenby were helped by Brad Hardie to coach the first and second grade team. Their large group of 23 kids were active also on Saturday mornings and were able to scrimmage amongst themselves every week.

Andover had two third and fourth grade coed teams coached by Heidi Murphy, Scott Allenby and Katelyn Churchill. This is the youngest grade where teams start playing other surrounding towns within the league. Though they don’t hold an end of the year tournament, the teams were able to participate in the Bob Andrews Soccer Tournament held in New London in September. It was a hot Saturday of soccer and the kids played with lots of vim and vigor. The last home game for the third and fourth graders occurred on October 6 where the teams faced off against each other. The game ended in a tie with both teams celebrating together with cookies and sweets brought from team parents.

Andover hosted a total of 12 home games at the Howard George field. The local referees, whom the department would like to thank, were Leighton Terwilliger, Will Furtkamp, Lagan Salathe, Elliot Norris and Church Salathe. We also had a sixth grade student, Delaney Young line the fields each week. A total of 72 students signed up and participated this year and we hope to keep the numbers growing for next year. Thanks again to everyone who supported the program. We look forward to another great season in 2018! Keep on dribbling!